


No Man's Land

by prosfan



Series: A Captain's Tale [2]
Category: Ghosts (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, War, World War I, World War II, settling in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26956387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prosfan/pseuds/prosfan
Summary: The Captain struggles with his first few days being dead. Even now his war is ended, it leaves its scars. Help comes from an unlikely source.
Relationships: The Captain & Robin
Series: A Captain's Tale [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967122
Comments: 16
Kudos: 63





	No Man's Land

**Author's Note:**

> This follows on from my previous story, 'Over The Top'. I don't think you need to have read that for this one to make sense.  
>  Its set a few days after the Captain died. I love The Captain and Robins relationship in the series, and I'm interested to see how it may have started.  
> Includes descriptions of warfare in World War One.

He kept himself to himself the first few days after he died. He’d faced his own death so many times, that now it had happened, he had no idea how to deal with an eternity of it. The other ghosts were okay he supposed. Kitty was very excitable but sweet. Lady Button was - well she was a typical matriarch, foreboding and stern but not nasty. He hadn’t had much to do with Humphrey yet, but he seemed like he had a wise head on his shoulders...so to speak. Thomas had complained a frankly ridiculous number of times about the noise the soldiers were making. He hadn’t spoken to The Captain since he’d snapped at him that there was a bloody war on. Robin, after being kind in the minutes after his death, had basically ignored him, in favour of messing around with the headlights on all the Army trucks outside. Mary considered every bit of medical technology witchcraft, and regarded him with suspicion because he understood it. 

It suited him, being left alone. It was hard, so bally hard to watch the war carry on with out him. To watch Button House fill up with wounded soldiers. The others had seen this happening for the last year or so, however long Button House had been an army hospital for. The soldiers were an inconvenience to them, an intrusion that they couldn’t shift. 

But to The Captain, these men could have been his own platoon. He almost can’t bear to look, in case he recognises one of the injured men. He’d fought as a Private in World War One, and been caught in a gas attack that damaged his lungs. He’d been to France in the current war, working in logistics and supplies, before pneumonia sent him back to England, Button House, and ultimately his death a few days ago. With that experience, came understanding. Every blown off limb, every gunshot wound, every pale face, carried a story that the Captain did not need any help to imagine. He’d forever be proud of The Army, and his part in it, but war was hell, and a military hospital was the place to see it. 

It was messing with him. He was on edge all the time, and he couldn’t rest. They still slept as ghosts, which surprised him, but he often found himself patrolling the halls, keeping watch over all the injured men, and keeping out of the way of the other ghosts. It had drained him today though, he realised as he lay on his bed. It was bringing back memories of his time as a young, eighteen year old private during the first war, memories that he’d rather forget. 

_The bangs just wouldn’t stop coming. Crash after crash after crash, bringing shrapnel and mud down on all of their heads. Screams punctuated the artillery fire as a man was felled by a bullet. It was worse when someone’s screams abruptly stopped, another bullet finding its mark. He carried on running, ducking as an artillery shell exploded nearby. The next shell was much closer, and the shock wave propelled him forwards, sending him tumbling into a shell crater. He took stock of himself, quickly ascertaining that he wasn’t injured, which was a miracle. He rolled over and came face to face with a German soldier, face contorted in death. He screamed, scrambling up the crater, over more bodies, desperate to escape-_

The Captain woke with a start, adrenaline coursing through his body. If he could, he’d be in a cold sweat, heart thumping and chest heaving. Despite not having a physical form, he experienced the same emotions as if it had happened yesterday, not nearly thirty years ago. He swallowed thickly, willing the images away. He hadn’t had that dream for years. 

“You okay?” The Captain shot upright, standing and spinning to face the caveman crouched next to wear his head had just been. 

“Robin! What the bloody hell are you doing in my room?” The caveman shrugged.

“You make noises. Sound scared. Come to check.”

“This is an intrusion, one doesn’t just enter an officer’s room without their permission.” He jabbed his swagger stick in the caveman’s direction. “I don’t care how long you’ve been here, this is an affront and I won’t have you barge into my room whilst I sleep. Is that understood?!” Robin tilted his head, and slowly stood up from his crouched position.

“Not answer my question.”

“What bloody question?”

“You okay?” The Captain coughed slightly, expecting mockery from the caveman, not apparent care.

“Yes, of course I’m okay. I haven’t been injured.” He sat down heavily on the bed, resting his swagger stick on his knees. To his surprise, Robin sat next to him.

“No more pain in body. But still can have pain here,” Robin said quietly, poking The Captain where his heart would have been. 

“So it would seem.” They sit in silence for a little while, The Captain focusing on his getting himself back under control, and Robin content to be a quiet companion.

“What you dream about?” The comment startles The Captain out of his focus and he shakes his head. 

“Not important. I didn’t even know we could dream.” Robin shrugs next to him. 

“Me neither. But it happen.”

“What do you dream about?” Another shrug from the caveman.

“Cave. Before house got here. All people that come and go.” Robin worried at the cuff of his furs. “Family sometimes,” he says softly. Captain nods. It would be easy to forget just how long Robin must have been here. Just what memories he could have formed in his afterlife, let alone his time alive.

“Do you still miss them?”

“Yes. Hard to remember, been so long. But see them in dreams.” He turned to look at The Captain, who sighed quietly. 

“I’d like to forget my dreams. How cruel can it be that I’ve died and cannot fight this war, but am still plagued by dreams of a war long ended?”

“Bad things easy to remember.” Robin nudged him in the side gently. “Talk about dream. Feel better.” Talking gets you killed. Never knew who was listening. Careless talk costs lives. Mantras of war that he had lived by.

“Talking gets you nowhere.” He insisted, although he didn’t know who he was trying to convince Robin, or himself. Robin chuckled quietly.

“Got nowhere to go.” Despite it all, The Captain chuckled with him. He couldn’t argue with that. Taking a deep breath, he started to recount his dream - _his memory_ \- to Robin, the caveman listening carefully, and only interrupting to clarify a few things. 

Once he’d finished, emotional energy spent, Robin sat still, thinking. After a few minutes, he turned to look at the Captain intently.

“We no have war. We fight yes, tribe against tribe. But no big war. Not like this.” The caveman paused again. “Not good invention.”

“Invention? What do you mean?” Robin smiled, passion in his eyes.

“Electric, wheel, medicine...all good invention. War bad. Only pain.”

“That’s not entirely fair. Ignoring the implications, a gun is a very clever thing. And those new tanks are a marvel of engineering. Perfectly suited to difficult terrain, protecting the men inside, and providing superior fire power.” Robin gestured vaguely at the rooms that housed the recovering soldiers. Muffled sounds of care drifted into them, clinking of medicine bottles, hushed whispers of nurses on their breaks, and the occasional cry of painkillers wearing off.

“Worth it?” The Captain stares at him for a few seconds, before hanging his head, and shaking it almost imperceptibly. 

“I...I don’t know that it is.” He straightened up again. Damn the man for his insight. “The army has been my life since I was eighteen Robin, I can’t just disregard it. Its who I _am_.” How ironic that after surviving the first world war, he was stuck in this No Man’s Land during the second. At once wishing it would be over, and not knowing how to do anything else.

“Not disregard. We have guards in tribe. Sometimes they kill. It necessary. Not good, but must be done.” He puts a hand on The Captain’s shoulder. “Same with you. Must be done, but don’t have to agree is perfect.” The Captain nods slowly. A man’s cry of pain sounded downstairs and he winces.

“All this suffering because of a jumped up little….We _absolutely must_ win this war Robin, or it will all have been for nothing.”

“Sometimes it is.” 

“I hope for Europe’s sake, that this isn’t one of those times.” Robin sighed. 

“Me too.” The caveman stood up, appraising The Captain as if trying to suss him out. Finally he reached out and gently tapped the side of The Captain’s head.

“You good?”

“Better, thank you.”

“I go now. You sleep yes?”

“I’ll try.” The caveman nodded, apparently satisfied. Just as he got to the door, The Captain called out.

“I say Robin...Don’t tell the others about my little...wobble tonight eh? Wouldn’t do to start off with them thinking I’m mad.” Robin smiled sadly.

“Captain not mad. But won’t tell.”

“Thank you.” The Captain said quietly. Robin nodded, and walked out to do whatever it is that he did at night. 

Captain settled back down on the bed, holding on to his swagger stick and slowly letting himself relax. Maybe tomorrow, he’d go downstairs and try to integrate himself with the others. After all, if he’s going to have to spend eternity here, its going to be awfully lonely on his own. Never know, he might even shape them into a half decent unit. 

Unbeknownst to the Captain, Robin popped in to check up on him a couple times throughout the night. Whenever he saw that The Captain was sleeping peacefully, he smiled softly and left him to it. 

The soldier didn’t dream again that night.


End file.
